The Lebanese brought with them different Christian faiths. The three main followings were Maronites (a Catholic rite), Antiochian (Eastern Orthodox) and Melkites (Greek Catholics). Because of the similarity of their religions, the Dunedin Maronites settled quickly into the local Catholic parish.
Initially Dunedin’s Orthodox Lebanese aligned themselves with the Anglican Church, before building the Orthodox Church of St Michael in 1911. They appointed a Russian priest (the only Orthodox priest in New Zealand at the time), but this did not last, and many Orthodox Lebanese became Anglicans. Early Orthodox Lebanese in Auckland, such as the Corban family, also attended their local Anglican church.
By the 2020s there were four Antiochian Orthodox churches: St George Mission in Auckland, St George Mission in Wellington, Holy Trinity Mission in Christchurch, and St Michael the Archangel in Dunedin. They served a diverse community of Middle Eastern and other peoples. Some masses were chanted in a mixture of Arabic and Greek along with English translations for the young.
There was also one Melkite church, St Elias The Prophet, in Auckland. It was built in 2001 and served some 40 to 70 people of all Eastern Orthodox denominations.